There Are Angels Everywhere
by Echo1317
Summary: I'm an angel," Jace said, smirking that golden boy smirk of his. The girl laughed, "Me, too."


**A/N** Just a crappy one shot I did a while ago. Happy New Year's Eve!

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Jace Wayland was being thrown out of a bar. "Don't come back, kid!" The proprietor yelled from the doorway, strobe lights flashing behind him. The boy made a rude hand gesture at him, stumbling away from the establishment with an almost empty bottle of vodka still miraculously in his hand. Clary was at Simon's place, where he was supposed to meet up with her later; Alec was at Magnus's party; Isabelle was God knows where. He was alone on New Years, and he was just fine with that- or that's what he kept telling himself.

The street he had staggered down was otherwise unoccupied, a lucky thing, he thought. A cool wind blew through the area, gently ruffling Jace's hair. He sighed and closed his eyes, holding out his arms and feeling the chill run through his bones. He smiled.

There was a rustling sound ahead of him, and his eyes snapped open. In the dim light, he could see a woman's silhouette walking briskly towards him, her lean fingers brushing against the side of the building. She turned sharply, rising up the side of the building as Jace realized she was climbing up a latter. The girl paused half way up the latter, looking from side to side as if making sure she was alone. She took another step. Her face was illuminated, and Jace stifled a small gasp.

The girl's face was pale and thin in the moonlight, her deep brown eyes narrowing intensely as they locked on Jace. She was rather striking in a feral sort of way, dangerous, and very powerful. Her sandy hair blew around her face, adding to the mysterious atmosphere. She abruptly turned away, racing up the latter at a faster pace. So, Jace did what any good, drunk half-angel Shadowhunter would do.

He followed her.

By the time he reached the roof, he was surprised to hind himself out of breath. He pulled himself up over the short ledge, looking around for the girl. He spotted her quickly; she was standing on the other side of the rooftop, the tips of her worn out shoes hanging over the edge.

"Hey," Jace said, sobering up slightly at the sight of someone who appeared to be about to kill them self. The girl whipped around, assuming a fighting stance. Jace held up his hands as a sign that he meant no harm. "Take it easy, I'm not gonna hurt you."

"Yeah, I've heard that one before," The girl snorted disbelievingly, but she relaxed a little. Judging by the way this boy was swaying on his feet and couldn't seem to focus his eyes on anything, she figured he was pretty much harmless. She spun back around, sitting down on the ledge and dangling her legs over the edge. Jace cautiously walked towards her, until he was standing beside her.

"So," Jace began slowly, watching the girl who couldn't be more than fourteen watch the city, "What are you doing up here all alone on New Year's Eve?"

"I'm not technically alone," The girl said, unzipping her windbreaker. Jace did something along the lines of laughing. The girl cracked a smile and held out her hand for him. "Maximum Ride."

"Jace Lightwood," He shook her hand. Since their return from Idris, he had adopted the Lightwood name. Max snickered.

"Nice name," She said, glancing up to see if Jace had taken offence. Apparently he hadn't, he was smirking in a teasing manner.

"You're one to talk," He retorted playfully, "Maximum." Max chuckled, glad that she was able to have a normal conversation with someone outside of the Flock- you know, if talking to a drunk teenager on a rooftop in New York on New Year's Eve was normal. "Hey, you didn't answer my question."

"I'm just watching the city," Max sighed, looking down on the many cars and taxis and people below. Jace also peered over the edge, shivering. They were at lease thirty stories up.

"Pretty high up, huh?" He commented, folding his arms across his chest. Max glanced around and shrugged.

"I've been higher," She said cryptically, her eyes suddenly finding the almost empty bottle Jace had abandoned a few feet away. She jerked her head at it. "Can I have a sip of that?"

"You don't look old enough," Jace shook his head no, and Max frowned slightly.

"Neither do you," She said as the boy picked up the bottle and drank. She allowed the silence to creep up on them for a few more moments. "What are you doing alone on New Year's?"

"Everyone else's got somewhere else to be," He shrugged, one hand in his pocket and one still holding the bottle. Max picked at the hangnail on her thumb awkwardly, until Jace tapped her shoulder. When she looked up, he was offering her the bottle.

"You still want some?" He asked, and Max gratefully took it from him. She hesitantly lifted it, sniffing the liquid and then wrinkling her nose. She handed the bottle back.

"No thanks, it smells nasty," She said, and Jace laughed a little. The silence still itched around them a few moments later, waiting to be acknowledged, but never getting it's wish.

"What's your deal?" Max finally asked, flicking a piece of blond-brown hair out of her face. Jace glanced at her, then returned his gaze to the sky, which was bright with stars and a full moon. He took another swig of the liquid out of the bottle in his hands.

"I'm an angel," He said smirking that golden boy smirk of his. Max laughed dryly, smiling her own skeptical smile.

"Me too," She smirked, rising to her feet in one graceful, fluid motion. She tugged her shirt down and zipped up her windbreaker, then offered Jace her hand. "It's been good talking to you, but I better fly. Later, Lightwood."

"Later," Jace shook her hand lightly, wondering why she happened to use the expression fly. Without warning, Max turned on her heel, took two steps and dropped feet first off the side of the building. It took Jace a second to process what had happened. "Shit!"

He dashed to the edge of the building, looking over the side, only to find that Max was nowhere in sight. A sharp laugh echoed from above him, and Jace directed his stare upward. Silhouetted against the bright lights of New York was the figure of a thirteen-year-old girl in a bulky windbreaker, a pair of wing sticking out of her back- an angel.

"Whoa," Jae breathed, running his fingers through his hair and trying to remember just how much alcohol he's downed that night, "Nobody's gonna believe this one."


End file.
